A vertical-emitting device, such as a VCSEL, is a laser in which a laser beam is emitted in a direction perpendicular to a surface of a substrate (e.g., vertically from a surface of a semiconductor wafer). A typical VCSEL includes epitaxial layers grown on a substrate. The epitaxial layers may include, for example, a pair of reflectors (e.g., a pair of distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs)), an active region, an oxidation layer, and/or the like. Other layers may be formed on or above the epitaxial layers, such as one or more dielectric layers, metal layers, and/or the like.